1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a stretching machine and, more particularly, to a machine for stretching the muscles of the arms, legs, and back without undue stress.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stretching prior to commencing any exercise regimen is of paramount importance to reduce the likelihood of exercise related injuries. This is particularly true with regard to martial arts exercise regimens which demand optimum flexibility for swift, wide-ranged, muscle group movements. It is important that stretching be carried out with smooth continuous movements, rather than with bouncy movements, in order to avoid injuries during the stretching exercise itself. Ideally, the muscles should be in a relaxed state to maximize the stretch and to avoid undue stress on the muscle, tendons and skeleton.
Stretching is also an important part of any physical therapy regimen practiced by patients undergoing physical rehabilitation following an accident, an illness or perhaps just seeking relief from such common aliments as back pain. This type of therapy is commonly supervised by a highly trained physical therapist in a hospital setting or perhaps in the patient's home. For severely impaired patients, the therapist may maneuver the patient's limbs through a full range of motion being careful not to force or over stretch the muscles. The therapist must exercise even greater care and supervision if the patient is using a machine to stretch since a wrong machine setting or a patient who is unaware of his/her thresholds may easily over stretch and injure himself.
Traditionally, pre-exercise, post-exercise, as well as therapeutic stretching exercises, are performed on the floor using a simple floor mat or by hanging from a bar. In a typical floor stretching exercise, a person sits with his legs in a straddle position extended out in front of his torso. The person bends his torso into the mat thereby stretching his leg and back muscles. The person's arms may extend straight out over his head, in a reaching fashion, to maximize the stretch. This position is held for a period of time. The stretching may be assisted with the help of a partner or therapist. In a hanging stretch exercise, the person hangs from a bar, such as, for example, in a chin-up preparation position, and allows the weight of his own body to provide a downward stretch. This method is particularly undesirable in a therapeutic environment since, typically, the full body weight provides many times more force than is necessary or desired to accomplish the stretch. This puts undesirable strain on the muscles, particularly of the lower back. Additionally, a patient in therapy often lacks the strength in their hands that is required to support their own body weight.
In the design and manufacture of exercise machines the trend has been to move away from manual or free-weight apparatuses and to provide more machines which are designed to ensure proper movement of a specific muscle group. Although this trend has been more prevalent for muscle building exercise machines, it is becoming more prevalent for stretching machines as well.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,090 to Reed shows an exercising machine for stretching a user's leg and back muscles which closely simulates conventional floor exercises. A user sits with his legs extended out and locked in front of his torso. A hand-grip is provided at the end of a motorized telescoping arm for the user to grasp. Forward and reverse buttons on the hand-grip are used to control the direction of the telescoping arm as it pulls the user to the floor or pushes him back to a sitting position. This machine is mechanically complex and extremely limited in the types exercises and range of motions that can be performed. For example, this type of machine could not be used in a therapeutic environment where the patient has a back injury and is physically unable to bend at the torso. Additionally, since it is a user operated motorized machine that is actually stretching the muscles, it would be easy for an inexperienced or overzealous user to go too far and cause muscle hyperextension or some other unhealthy result.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,453 to Hestilow shows an example of a stretching machine where a user sits with his legs secured in a pair of leg decks which are longitudinally slidable to accommodate different size users. A hydraulic jack is used to move the leg decks in an arc movement to stretch the user's legs in a spread-eagled fashion. A handle bar is positioned in front of the user in the same plane as the user's legs to aid in front stretches.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,684 to Ruff shows a leg stretch machine somewhat similar to the one that is described in Hestilow. A crank and rachet mechanism is provided which, when turned, moves a pair of spreader arms to split a user's legs apart. A hand-grip is bolted to a central bar in front of the user near the ground. This allows the user to pull his upper body closer to the floor with his legs spread thereby simulating various martial arts positions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,504 to Mangini shows a stretching machine where a seat is provided with pivotally mounted leg platforms extending therefrom. A user sits in the seat in an upright position with his legs strapped into the leg platforms. The machine employs a steering-wheel type crank which, when turned, moves the leg platforms and stretches the user's legs apart. A rod is positioned directly in front of the user. The rod has a left and right hand grip and a cable extending from the center of the rod to the seat backrest. When the user grasps and turns the rod, a ratchet mechanism winds the cable around the rod pulling the backrest forward and causing the user to assume a bent over posture. In this manner, the leg and back muscles are stretched simultaneously.
The aforementioned stretch exercise machines offer significant improvement over conventional floor exercises in that they ensure proper muscle movement and, in most cases, allow for holding the muscles in a stretched position for a period of time. Unfortunately, the stretch machines only allow the user to assume a straight-out, bent over posture and do not permit side-to-side movements nor vertical stretch movements which simulate hanging.